Five-year growth response of western red cedar, western hemlock, and amabilis fir to chemical and organic fertilizers

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 1328-1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
C E Prescott ◽  
S M Brown

The hypothesis that growth responses of conifers to application of organic fertilizers are of longer duration than responses to chemical fertilizers was tested in two trials on northern Vancouver Island. Both trials were in 10-year-old plantations of conifers on a salal-dominated cutover known to have poor N supply. In Trial 1, western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.), and amabilis fir (Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) were treated with municipal biosolids at 542 kg N·ha-1 and 162 kg P·ha-1 or ammonium nitrate and triple superphosphate at 225 kg N·ha-1 and 75 kg P·ha-1. Height increments in the 5 years following applications were two to five times greater in plots treated with either biosolids or fertilizer than in untreated plots. In Trial 2, western red cedar was treated with fertilizer at 225 kg N·ha-1 and 75 kg P·ha-1 or the following organic amendments at 504-610 kg N·ha-1: biosolids, biosolids and pulp and paper sludge, fish silage and wood ash, fish silage with wood ash and pulp and paper sludge, and wood ash alone. Height increments in the 5 years following applications were similar in all treated plots (except wood ash alone). These experiments provided no evidence for sustained growth responses in plots treated with organic fertilizers compared with those treated with chemical fertilizer.

1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 1626-1634 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Keenan ◽  
C. E. Prescott ◽  
J. P. Kimmins ◽  
J. Pastor ◽  
B. Dewey

Litter decomposition and changes in N and organic chemicals were studied for 2 years in two forest types: old-growth western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarge) and 85-year-old stands of western hemlock and amabilis fir (Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) that developed after a major windstorm. We tested the hypothesis that lower rates of mass loss and different patterns of nutrient release in decomposing litter could explain lower nutrient availability in the cedar–hemlock type. Decomposition rate of a standard litter substrate, lodgepole pine needles, was almost identical in the two forest types indicating that each type had similar microenvironmental conditions for decomposers. Salal leaves had a lower lignin to N ratio and decomposed and released N more rapidly than the conifer litters. Among the conifers, cedar had poorer litter quality (higher lignin to N ratio), decomposed more slowly, and released considerably less N during the study. Cedar litter contributes to lower N availability in cedar–hemlock forests, but other factors, such as lower external N cycling and complexing of N with secondary carbon compounds during later stages of decomposition, are also likely to have a major influence on N availability. Keywords: Thuja plicata, Tsuga heterophylla, decomposition, litter quality, N cycling.


1969 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 1419-1422 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. B. Mullick

By using a mild method, which precludes the possibility of pigment hydrolysis during extraction and processing, the occurrence of anthocyanidins in the free state has been detected in the normal secondary periderm tissues (rhytidomal region) of amabilis fir (Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forbes), grand fir (Abies grandis (Dougl.) Lindl.), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.), and western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn.). Cyanidin was present in all species. Pelargonidin was present in western hemlock and most likely also in western red cedar.


1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 873-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda E. Heusser

Varved, black clayey silts deposited in the marine waters of Saanich Inlet yield unusually abundant and diverse pollen assemblages derived from the coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) forests of southwestern British Columbia. The 12 000 year palynological record chronicles the development of vegetation since ice left Saanich Inlet: the succession of pine (Pinus contorta) and alder (Alnus rubra) woodlands by forests characterized by Douglas-fir and oak (Quercus) and later by western hemlock and red cedar (Thuja plicata). Rapid deposition of annual layers of pollen, charcoal, and other terrigenous particles provides detailed evidence of changes in land use during the past few hundred years: settlement, logging, farming, and urbanization. Vegetational and climatic changes inferred from pollen spectra in the marine sediments of Saanich Inlet compare favorably with changes inferred from correlative pollen assemblages previously described from adjacent parts of Vancouver Island and the Fraser River valley.


1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 1512-1520 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. F. Weetman ◽  
R. Fournier ◽  
J. Barker ◽  
E. Schnorbus-Panozzo

Microplot and conventional plot trials were used to determine the nutritional status and required nutrient additions to bring young regenerations of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) and western red cedar (Thujaplicata Donn ex D. Don) out of "check." The trees were growing on deep mor-humus Podzols invaded by dense salal (Gaultheriashallon). Salal removal by grubbing and application of Garlon was also tested. Foliar vector analysis, used for hemlock, identified a response to N and P that was confirmed by subsequent 3-year height growth response. Salal removal resulted in increased N uptake only in cedar. Cedar also responded to N and P additions, but vector analysis was not feasible owing to indeterminate growth. Foliar analysis values are compared with published data. It is suggested that salal competition or allelopathy may be the primary cause of inadequate N and P nutrition.


1956 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 197-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Walters ◽  
L. H. McMullen

The Douglas-fir hylesinus, Pseudohylesinus nebulosus (Leconte), is a common bark beetle in western North America from British Columbia to Mexico. Although Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, is the preferred host, the beetle has been collected also from western red cedar, Thuja plicata Donn, grand fir, Abies grandis (Dougl.) Lindl., amabilis fir, Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forb., and western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg., on the west coast of British Columbia, and from western hemlock and western yellow pine, Pinus ponderosa Laws., in the interior of the Province. Swaine (1918) describes Pseudohylesinus nebulosus (Lec.) as “a slender species, with strong colour-markings in dark and light reddish-brown; the male very densely clothed with stout scales; the epistomal lobe strongly developed; length, 2.8 mm.; width, 1.2 mm. The supposed female has interspace 9 on the declivity less strongly serrate, and the elytral scales decidedly elongate and becoming plumose towards the base.”


1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. McDonald ◽  
B.J. Hawkins ◽  
C.E. Prescott ◽  
J.P. Kimmins

The fertilizer efficacy of a variety of organic wastes was tested in a 9-year-old plantation of western red cedar (Thujaplicata Donn ex D. Don) growing on a cutover of cedar–hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) forest on northern Vancouver Island. Seven treatments were compared: municipal sewage sludge, sewage sludge plus pulp sludge, fish silage and wood ash, silage and ash plus pulp sludge, wood ash alone, ammonium nitrate with triple super phosphate, and control (untreated). Each treatment was replicated three times. Rates of application were 225 kg N•ha−1 in the inorganic fertilizer and about 500 kg N•ha−1 in the organic wastes (except wood ash). The height and diameter of the cedar trees 2 years after fertilization were greatest in the plots treated with inorganic fertilizer (average height was 274 cm, vs. 211 cm in control plots; average diameter at 30 cm was 49 mm, vs. 34 mm in control plots). Smaller but significant growth responses were achieved with sewage sludge and fish silage plus ash. Mixtures of sewage sludge or silage with pulp sludge produced smaller height growth responses, but did not affect diameter growth. Wood ash alone had no effect on tree growth. All treatments except wood ash increased the concentrations of macronutrients in foliage. Foliar N concentrations were greatest in trees treated with fish silage or inorganic fertilizer. Stagnated plantations of western red cedar appear to provide an opportunity for recycling these organic wastes.


2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (10) ◽  
pp. 1668-1676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D McArthur ◽  
John S Richardson

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in aquatic systems is abundant and used within stream food webs, but DOC quality is rarely studied. DOC in the leachates from the litter of five tree species (red alder, Alnus rubra; vine maple, Acer circinatum; western red cedar, Thuja plicata; western hemlock, Tsuga hetrophylla; and Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii) were assessed for their chemistry and relative ability to support growth of heterotrophic, stream bacteria. Bacterial growth was measured using [3H]leucine incorporated into protein over 24 h of exposure to nutrient-amended leachates. Bacterial growth was greatest in deciduous and western red cedar leachates, controlling for DOC concentration. Bacterial growth rates on most leachates were greatest after 1 h and then declined in a negative exponential pattern. The DOC less than 10 kDa supported lower bacterial growth rates than DOC from whole leachates on a per milligram DOC basis. The DOC C:N atomic ratio was the best predictor of bacterial growth (r2 = 0.84). DOC release from western hemlock needles increased linearly during 7 days of leaching, whereas most red alder and western red cedar DOC was released after 1 and 2 days, respectively. Successional changes in composition of riparian forest trees may influence the stream microbial productivity based on the changes in dissolved organic carbon.


1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1052-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney J. Keenan ◽  
Cindy E. Prescott ◽  
J.P. Hamish Kimmins

Biomass and C, N, P, and K contents of woody debris and the forest floor were surveyed in adjacent stands of old-growth western red cedar (Thujaplicata Donn)–western hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) (CH type), and 85-year-old, windstorm-derived, second-growth western hemlock–amabilis fir (Abiesamabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) (HA type) at three sites on northern Vancouver Island. Carbon concentrations were relatively constant across all detrital categories (mean = 556.8 mg/g); concentrations of N and P generally increased, and K generally decreased, with increasing degree of decomposition. The mean mass of woody debris was 363 Mg/ha in the CH and 226 Mg/ha in the HA type. The mean forest floor mass was 280 Mg/ha in the CH and 211 Mg/ha in the HA stands. Approximately 60% of the forest floor mass in each forest type was decaying wood. Dead woody material above and within the forest floor represented a significant store of biomass and nutrients in both forest types, containing 82% of the aboveground detrital biomass, 51–59% of the N, and 58–61% of the detrital P. Forest floors in the CH and HA types contained similar total quantities of N, suggesting that the lower N availability in CH forests is not caused by greater immobilization in detritus. The large accumulation of forest floor and woody debris in this region is attributed to slow decomposition in the cool, wet climate, high rates of detrital input following windstorms, and the large size and decay resistance of western red cedar boles.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-81
Author(s):  
Kole F. Adelalu ◽  
Xiao-Jian Qu ◽  
Yan-Xia Sun ◽  
Tao Deng ◽  
Hang Sun ◽  
...  

IAWA Journal ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Ellis ◽  
Paul Steiner

Five wood species, Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia Benth.), Balau (Shorea spp.), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), Western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don), and Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) were loaded in compression longitudinally, radially and tangentially. The wood cubes were conditioned to one of four moisture contents prior to loading. Small cubes were loaded until no void space remained after which samples were released and soaked in water. Stress /strain curves were recorded over the whole range of strain and cube thicknesses were recorded at the end of the compression, after release from the testing apparatus, and after soaking in water. Denser woods resulted in a greater Young’s modulus, higher levels of stress and shorter time to densification than did less dense woods. Higher initial moisture contents apparently increased the plasticity of the wood leading to a lower Young’s modulus and lower levels of stress during compression, greater springback after release of stress and greater recovery after swelling in water. Differences observed in the radial and tangential behaviours were believed to be due to the supporting action of the rays when the wood was compressed in the radial direction in balau and trembling aspen and to the relative difference between the lower density earlywood and higher density latewood regions in ash, Douglas-fir and western red cedar.


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